Customer Reviews

Close to Perfect

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is one of the worst books I have read in a long time. Josh has no personality at all and you wonder through the whole book how he became rich considering he is a total idiot. Plus, the characters change there mind so many times, it's impossible to figure out.who still wants who. All the two main characters is fantacize about explicit sex and the supporting characters are all just very annoying. Save your money!

Real estate mogul Josh Wyatt finds that he's tabloid fodder when racy photos of him are published, causing a bevy of scantily clad females to stalk him. To protect him from these would be "Ms. Right Nows" and the paparazzi, his lawyer arranges to hire a bodyguard. Not just any bodyguard will work - he hires Tess Franklin, an ex-cop who can hold her own with any perp, but will also have to act as his girlfriend. But Tess' overprotective father might have a little something to say about their living arrangements, particularly when he notices that his daughter is falling for her assignment.

The characters are supposed to be 28-31, but both their thought processes are more in line with a 13 year old girl who can't decide if a boy likes her or not, which quickly became redundant. A minimal plot, lack of communication, and far too introspection made the eventual coupling pretty anti-climatic and unbelievable. I'd skip buying and get it from the library.

Ms. Donahue's second effort although entertaining seemed a bit contrived. If one doesn't take it to seriously...the reader will come away from a light read with a smile on their faces.

Josh Wyatt went from being poor to being a wealthy man who has managed to get his naked backside plastered on the cover of tabloid papers. He's being stalked by the paparazzi and he needs protection. He's against this idea until his sexy bodyguard walks into his office. Yeah, he'll agree to a bodyguard if she plays the role of his girlfriend. But it's not long before Josh starts feeling more then lust for his sexy bodyguard. But will he get to keep her at the end of the day?

Tess Franklin is a former police officer...highly decorated...and she knows more then most how important it is that she lands this job. She will do what she needs to do to keep Josh safe...even if she has to play at being his girlfriend. It won't be a hard task Josh is yummy and hot, hot, hot. But is it all an act or is Tess the only one that really feels the heat between them? What's going to happen when he doesn't need her anymore?

I admit to having problems liking both protagonists at different periods of time during the course of the read. The reader will need to have patience but it will be worth the effort. This is a light read that is steamy, with bouts of unbelievable moments between characters. Ms. Donahue is very able when it comes to creating sizzling chemistry between characters.

This book took me forever to read. It was not engaging at all. There was little to love about either protagonist. I was neither convinced that Josh was a successful builder/developer and Tess a bodyguard nor was I the least convinced they were in love.

What I found extremely obnoxious was the 'fluff' characters: dad's old cronies. They were irritating and not just to Josh and Tess, but to me as well.

What I did like was the tension and sex talk which is why I rated "C2P" 2 stars. Oh, and I love the cover. :)

When a zealous photographer splashes his rear end over the tabloids, hunky businessman Josh Wyatt is besieged by women. Which wouldn't have been so bad, except Josh's attorney reminds him that some of those women will be looking for a chance to sue--and Josh has lots of money to be sued for. They settle on hiring a bodyguard--although Josh fears the onion-breathed types who respond to his ad. All, that is, except one. Tess Franklin, a beautiful ex-cop and current bodyguard, sends his blood temperature rising. She's the perfect solution--she can pretend to be his girlfriend so he won't even have to look like he's the kind of wimp who has a bodyguard.

All Tess wanted was the job. Okay, so she wouldn't mind working with a guy with a butt like the tabloids show, but really, she wasn't looking for anything else. The second she sets eyes on Josh, though, she's a gonner. Just as her parents clicked when they first met, something in Tess snaps into place when she sees Josh. She knows she is just a way-station for him, that he has too many women, too much temptation, and that her bodyguard job will be over all too soon. For her, though, this is love and a life-altering event.

Fortunately, Tess doesn't have to do much actual bodyguarding, because both she and Josh are so intoxicated by the desire flowing between them like an electrical short-circuit that she hardly notices anything around them. Still, she is his employee. A few stolen kisses, a moment or two alone in an elevator, a shopping trip where Tess shows that she's all girl despite her weapons and her H2H (hand to hand) training are all that actually happens--but every moment they're together, every moment they're apart and Tess doesn't know why, is a combination of torture and sensual delight.

Still, the original problems remain--the two are from different worlds. Ultimately, Tess is looking for more than she knows Josh has to give.

Author Tina Donahue delivers a sizzling story. Building on the familiar sexy bodyguard hook, Donahue ladles on the sexual tension. She details every groin-straining erection, every bounce of Tess's curvy bottom--carefully bringing in bits of Tess's family to let us know where she comes from and to give Josh a chance to be just folks (admittedly just folks with multiple zillions of dollars). If you're looking for a complex plot, tricky espionage, or technical information about the bodyguard (or tabloid) businesses, run-don't-walk in another direction. But when it comes to sexual tension that just doesn't let up, CLOSE TO PERFECT is, well, close to perfect.

The paparazzi salivate over obtaining photos of Florida real estate hunk Josh Wyatt. When some enterprising member of that tabloid photo club gets pictures of a naked Josh leaving his secluded Florida Keys swimming pool and prints them in the Keys Confidential, he feels his privacy has been invaded. The moments he is not irate Josh wonders how the photographer accomplished the feat. However, his biggest concern is he is now the pin-up of women across America; some of whom seem to be stalking him to set him up for a lawsuit.

He hires a bodyguard from Privacy Dynamics, Inc, former police officer Tess Franklin, who is to pretend that she is his girlfriend. The job is a snap to keep the mogul safe from the "badder girl" crowd wanting to either go naked with Josh or compromise him in such a way that he would have to pay them off. However, no one warned her that his nude posing does not do justice to the real thing.

CLOSE TO PERFECT is an engaging contemporary romance starring a beleaguered likable but humiliated male and the woman hired to protect his body from opportunist females. However, Tess after meeting the hunk wonders who will protect him from her while Josh debates how she could hide a gun in the clothing that outlines her perfect body. Readers will enjoy this fun romp that showcases the impact of the media on the privacy of celebrities even those who prefer not to be in the news ever.

Harriet Klausner

This is a great pool read! A great story, although not the best I've read! I would suggest Janet Evanaovich if you like Tina Donahue.

Josh Wyatt is a "zillionaire" real estate mogul. Somehow the paparazzi have gotten pictures of him stepping out of his pool as he was swimming nude. Now, he's got women hounding him - wanting to touch him and generally, being annoying. His attorney recommends that he hires a bodyguard. Josh is against the idea until he meets a woman in a gorgeous peach suit that wants the job as his bodyguard.

Tess Franklin is that woman in the peach suit. She works for her father and thinks this job is a great way to increase her Dad's business. But one look - and one kiss - and Tess wants Josh too. For her, meeting him reminds her of how her parents met - one look and they knew they were meant for each other. She feels that way about Josh, but thinks that he's just interested in a short fling.

I had a couple of problems with this book. I had a hard time believing the basic premise of this story. [...]. Seems more likely the attorney would want to sue the newspaper (though they do explain why they don't sue in the book, I couldn't buy it). I also had a problem with what keeps the characters apart after Josh admits his feelings for Tess. When Tess talks about how rich Josh is, how they come from different worlds, it seemed almost forced.

But it's easy getting past those problems as there's a lot to like in this book. I liked the author's writing style. And I liked Josh and Tess. I didn't feel that Josh was an idiot or a humiliated male. Most of the time, he seemed like an ordinary guy trying to figure it all out. Tess, of course, is an ex-cop extraordinaire (it would have been nice if she was just an ordinary ex-cop) but she's likable. And when the two finally do "get together", it's nice and steamy. There's not much plotline there (320 pages basically for a bodyguard protecting someone from women hounding him) but there were many times I found myself reading the dialog between these two characters and just smiling. By the time the ending came and the characters finally got together, I could believe that it could happen. No mystery or anything complex in this story - just a novel of two people falling in love.

If you can simply believe what you are told about a charachter (she's a professional cop, he is a real estate mogul) without having to see any evidence of it, then I guess you might like this book.

The author sketches a few cobwebs of plot & charachter and then just moves her charachters from here to there in a Mercedes while they think, talk/make innuendos about, or act on sex. If that is all you want, I guess you might like this book.

The author can write "steamy", but without anything else it is a waste of time. Thank goodness this was in the bargain bin and I didn't pay full price!